Highlights:
- Turning much colder tonight
- Light snow Thursday
- Bitterly cold, but dry weekend
The Ice Box Returns…An arctic cold front will sweep through the state tonight and help usher in a drastically colder feel as we progress through the middle and latter parts of the week. Left over rain showers this evening may end as a couple of snow flurries before precipitation comes to an end. Winds will really increase tonight behind the cold front, gusting between 30 and 40 MPH. This will lead to single digit wind chill values out the door Wednesday morning.
Our next weather disturbance arrives Thursday morning and will help spread light snow across the southern half of the state. Snow will continue into the early afternoon before departing off to the east. Light accumulations (around 1″) will be possible, especially from Indianapolis and points south. We’ll keep an eye on fresh data coming into the forecast office tonight and update if need be.
Otherwise, the big story going into the weekend will be the return of bitterly cold air. In fact, overnight lows will drop into the single digits Saturday and Sunday mornings. Dress warmly if you have plans to be outside for any length of time.
Our air flow will back around to the southwest early next week and temperatures will begin to moderate. Moisture may make it to the surface to create a little spotty freezing drizzle Monday evening before temperatures sky-rocket to around 50 Tuesday as showers return.
Upcoming 7-Day Precipitation Forecast:
- Snowfall: 1.00″
- Rainfall: 0.25″ – 0.50″
The heavy, dense, arctic air will win out as evening turns into nighttime. Indianapolis is back to the freezing mark around 6p and into the 20s by 9p.
Temperatures will continue to fall through the day Sunday and by Monday morning central Indiana will be in the single digits, with below zero readings across northern parts of the state.
Wind chill values of 10 to 20 degrees below zero will be common by Sunday night into Monday morning across central Indiana.
Areas of drizzle and freezing drizzle will continue across the region into the early afternoon, but begin to expand in coverage and intensity once again by evening. Note the area of freezing rain expand across central IN, including Indianapolis, between 4p and 7p.
Freezing rain will eventually begin to mix with sleet and eventually transition to light snow during the overnight from northwest to southeast. A coating of snow to less than 1″ is a good bet on the new icy glaze that develops tonight.
2.) Our next storm will approach Friday evening. Clouds will increase and thicken as the day gives way to evening and a wintry mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain will overspread central IN Friday night. With snow on the ground and the recent bitter blast, we have concerns the cold air won’t be “dislodged” as quickly as last weekend. The end result may be a period of accumulating freezing rain/ sleet Friday night into early Saturday morning. We’ll keep a close eye on things.
Regardless, icy precipitation will transition to rain during the day Saturday as temperatures briefly surge above freezing. “Brief” is the key word there as temperatures plummet Saturday night, courtesy of fresh arctic air oozing back in. A secondary wave of moisture may result in additional wintry issues Saturday night. Additionally, with sharply colder air returning, “flash freeze” concerns loom Saturday night, as well.
4.) Our attention then shifts to what may very well be an active Christmas week in the weather department. We continue to think the frigid times of this week will relax. That said, it’ll remain cold enough with a favorable storm track to result in wintry issues as Christmas nears. Far too early for specifics with this 10+ days out, but keep it in the back of your mind that the weather pattern continues to look active and at least present a threat of wintry precipitation at times Christmas week.
